SENTIENT TIMES December 2002/January 2003

The Movie Mystic
Far From Heaven

By Stephen Simon

Welcome to the Movie Mystic! The films we discuss are not reviewed in the traditional sense of that word; rather, we look at metaphysical messages in films, both current and classic.

Since I began this column I’ve received hundreds of emails and questions asking me about the nature of Spiritual Cinema and why I am so committed to its recognition.

We’re at a crossroads both in society and in our industry. There is a powerful yearning for meaning and hope in the world, for stories that challenge us to be our best, to lift up our hearts to the skies and encourage us to become the people we were born and have evolved to be. Story telling has always raised our sights and our spirits and has been the preferred tool of shamans and great teachers. It is no accident that Confucius, the Buddha, and Jesus were all gifted story tellers. Today’s great story tellers are novelists, publishers, lyricists, musicians, screenwriters, and film makers.

Is it possible then that certain movies contain spiritual messages that either we or the Universe transmit by way of our own collective subconscious and unconscious minds?

I think the answer is yes.

I believe that Spiritual Cinema is in and of itself a genre of film that has been around for decades but has never been recognized as such. This column is my attempt to share my belief in both the existence and viability of this genre; moreover, it is my belief that these films hold the key to the next century in entertainment.

The spiritual experience in the arts can open wide the doors of perception. As we evolve as a species, we hit certain key moments in that evolution when old ways are discarded and new maps of behavior are forged. Movies are the most electrifying communications medium ever devised and the natural conduit for inspiring ourselves to look into the eternal issues of who we are and why we are here.

When I realized this connection, it electrified my senses. Could this enter-tainment form of the movies be, in some cosmic way, reflecting to us in those darkened theaters the deepest questions, challenges, and yearnings of our humanity? Could movies be fashioning a metaphoric pathway to the forgotten secrets of our very existence?

If the answer is yes, why has society not acknowledged this before?

I think I know.

Let me tell you—what else?—a story, of Magellan’s trip around the world in 1519. Magellan’s fleet of massive high-sailed ships would sail into the bays of primitive islands and the natives would go wild with fear upon seeing these huge vessels. It would take weeks for the priests aboard to calm the natives and get to know them.

One day, the fleet sailed into the bay of an island and, to the amazement of all aboard, the natives on shore paid no attention whatsoever. They simply went on about their daily chores without the slightest shred of concern for these foreign invaders.

When Magellan’s crew got into their longboats and neared shore, the natives finally did react, and with even greater terror than had been witnessed elsewhere. When the priests ultimately calmed the natives and learned their language, they realized something extraordinary. These particular natives were so primitive that they didn’t react when the ships came into the bay—because they actually couldn’t physically perceive them! The ships were so far beyond their consciousness that they literally could not see them.

The films of Spiritual Cinema and the messages within them are the Magellan Ships of the movie industry today.

We are rapidly approaching a time when all the outer experiences of human existence will have been thoroughly mapped by the technical wizardry of the film making process.

There is another landscape, however, that has only begun to be mapped—our inner world, where we weave dreams of who we might be as a humanity when we operate at our very best.

Magellan’s ships—this time carrying the cargo of our deepest questions and hopes about ourselves—are now sailing into the waters of the mass consciousness of human awareness. Movies are part of the mainsail. I believe that it is now up to those of us on the shoreline to see with new eyes … to a distant horizon of evolution that is just now reflecting the first rays of dawn.

Far From Heaven

This is my favorite movie time of the year. November and December mark the months in which the studios and independents release films which they believe have Academy Award potential. Films must have at least opened theatrically by December 31 to qualify for Academy Awards so many films open in very limited engagements (usually New York and Los Angeles) near the end of the year and then get wider exposure in the early months of the next year. To boost these films’ chances, the studios also send out DVD’s of films that they feel deserve Academy Award attention. As I am a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, I get about 50 films at home during these months, many of which have not been released widely in theaters. I’ve been looking forward to this year in particular because it means that I have the opportunity to see some films early that I can share with you.

Far From Heaven is a miraculous, beautiful, original, haunting, provocative, and extraordinary film—and that may be the understatement of the year.

Set in 1957, the film is shot as though it was actually made in 1957. Gorgeous technicolor techniques have been utilized, the film score is evocative of that decade, and the entire creative team lovingly created a 1950’s look that is dazzling to behold. If you’ve never seen the leaves turn in New England in the Fall, this film is awfully close to being there. The Costume design is exquisite (down to a mink stoll that seems so perfect for that time and so out of place today), the production design is so acutely accurate that I felt like I was reliving my past (I went from age 4 to age 14 during the fifties), and the social mores are painfully to the point (a pitcherful of daiquiris for a women’s lunch, an African-American “maid,” and … meat loaf!)

The major impact of the film, however, is that it explores issues that never could have been addressed if the film had actually been made in the 1950’s.

The story and characters are dazzling and beautifully orchestrated. Essentially, the film looks at the social and emotional fabric of the “perfect” 1950’s family. Julianne Moore plays the dutiful fifties wife of a successful corporate salesman (Dennis Quaid). They have the de rigeur 2 children who call their Dad “pop” and are severely reprimanded for uttering such dreadful epithets as “shucks.” Moore’s friends are all homemakers and they have lunches and social gatherings that are strictly structured and rife with posturing and pretense. All “looks” normal … until Moore catches Quaid passionately kissing another … man. At that point, it becomes obvious that we are seeing a brilliant filmic convention: a movie set in the fifties, shot in a fifties style, that dares to look at subject matter that never could have been so boldly addressed if the film had actually been made in the fifties. Quaid’s homosexuality is, of course, a total taboo at that time and, in one of the most painfully poignant scenes in the film, he consults a psychiatrist who solemly declares that Quaid’s “sickness” is treatable; that is, “5 to 30%” of men with this “disease” can undergo a “heterosexual conversion” through behavioral modification and/or shock therapy!

Moore becomes friendly with her African-American gardener (Dennis Haysbert) who is a cultured, educated single father raising an 11 year old daughter. Their mutual need and desire for physical and emotional attention creates enormous tension for both of them and on screen. This is one of the sexiest movies in a long time and there is absolutely no on-screen sex! Sadly, the ugly face of Northern racial prejudice in that era is also re-enacted with chilling and tragic accuracy.

Overall, the film is a searing portrait of women’s rights, racism, repressive sexuality, and the painful cost of living with societal pretense and without honesty in personal relationships and, for me, is just about as close to perfect film making as a movie can get. I believe that the film is the first real candidate for Best Picture honors next year, along with several other individual nominations for Moore, Quaid, Haysbert, original score, production design, cinematography, costume design, and for the film’s brilliant director (Todd Haynes—bravo, maestro, bravo!).

For our Spiritual Cinema Community, it is an extraordinary opportunity for us all to see how far we have come and to take comfort and pride in the breathtaking spiritual, emotional, and societal evolution that has occurred in the last half-century. Yes, we still have a long way to go but those “Happy Days” were indeed “Far From Heaven” … and, my oh my, look how far we’ve already come! You can actually see and feel in Julianne Moore’s eyes and heart the seeds of the societal revolution that was just around the corner. Courageous women such as her character in the film began to see the world differently and broke away from convention, at great personal risk, with no map of what was ahead. For those of you who have ever wondered how this “New Age” really began—or for those of you who might have let those days slip away to a distant corner of your memory, this film is a treasure from the Universe.

Keep a close eye on your local theaters for Far From Heaven. When it opens near you, get your friends together (including young teenagers—it’s rated PG-13) and go!! I promise you a wonderful 2 hours of Spiritual Cinema in its most beautiful form.

Stephen Simon has produced such films as Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come. His book The Force is With You: Mystical Movie Messages That Inspire Our Lives is now available everywhere! For more information, visit www.MysticalMovies.com. Stephen welcomes your comments, Stephen@MysticalMovies.com.

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